A MAN accused of taking a recovery truck from its compound, before crashing into a newsagent’s shop and abandoning it, has walked free from court.

Formal ‘not guilty’ verdicts were recorded by a jury at Durham Crown Court following a judge’s directions on the second day of the trial of defendant Steven Mark Deakin today (Wednesday January 9).

The 43-year-old window cleaner from Intake, in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, was accused of taking the Iveco truck from Denhamfields Garage yard, in Ferryhill Station, County Durham, on the evening of Wednesday August 15 last year.

A pursuit followed through Ferryhill, in which the truck mounted a kerb, was driven over grass, struck a pursuing Mitsubishi Shogun, before coming to rest in the front of Kelly’s Newsagents and an adjoining house, in Osborne Terrace.

The truck was left in situ, having caused structural damage to both properties, and the driver fled.